The Blind Side (2009) (spoilers...)

    Up for two Oscars, including best picture and best actress in a leading role, John Lee Hancock's emotionally turbulent film The Blind Side is one of the best I've seen in several weeks. Not only is it a beautiful story, but the cinematography was decent and the acting was above par.

     The story is based on the real life events involving the Tuohy family and Michael Oher. The owners of 85 local restaurants, the Tuohy family generally has it all. Michael, whose past remains a mystery for most of the film, has little more than the clothes on his back. As Michael finds himself drifting between homes and families, one father gets him into a christian school where the Tuohy family attends. They notice Michael's hardships and decide to bring him into their home, giving them things he'd never had before. The experience changes Michael, Liegh Anne the mom, and Sean the dad as well.
    The largest problem with the film was that it was highly unfocused, plot-wise. Michael eventually gets to play football for his highschool, and quickly learns that the only high score that he got on his aptitude test (protective instincts) pays off. Now colleges become interested in Michael's talents, but he needs to improve his grades in order to be accepted into any of the schools. As the grades improve, in a lovely montage sequence, he's torn in deciding which college to choose. His new family is all for Ole Miss, and "gently" push him in that direction. This ultimately causes a scandal about why the Tuohy family brought Michael in in the first place.
    Really, the film does a good job of giving the audience all the important details, but since the opening scene is really one of the last ones, it is hard to not see the scandal as the main focus of the film. Unfortunately, if this is the focus, we only get to see a fifteen minute portion of the film dedicated to unraveling the mystery of the scandal. There's so much more to the story than just the scandal, especially since it is resolved so quickly and so simply. However, had the movie not opened with the scene about the scandal, it would have felt less focused. In all truthfulness, I believe I still would have liked the film, even if it didn't have a clear focus, because the film is really about the characters.

     Despite the hard topics the film discusses, it's levity was enough to bring last night's audience to laughter more often than I had expected. The audience filled the auditorium, an impressive feat since this was its fifteenth week in theaters (107 days). This is a film that truly deserves to be in the running for best motion picture of the year.